Pistons' Dumars on firing Saunders: 'It was time'

AP PhotoJoe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said he wasn't always on the same page with coach Flip Saunders this season.

AUBURN HILLS -- Every great coaching run comes to an end someday.

For the Detroit Pistons, that's usually every two or three seasons.

Flip Saunders, who enjoyed phenomenal regular-season success, failed to live up to the lofty postseason expectations as the Detroit Pistons' head coach.

And because of that, he was fired Tuesday with a year left on the four-year contract he signed in 2005 that's worth as much as $26 million.

"It's time," said Joe Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations. "Over a three-year period, with this team and Flip at the helm. It was time, after three years, to go in a different direction."

Saunders' future in Detroit had been a topic of discussion all season, but his fate seemed all but sealed following Detroit's Game 6 loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference finals last week. In that game, the Pistons blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, at home.

FLIPPED OUT

Flip Saunders, fired by the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday after three years on the job. Here are some of his notable achievements:

• Second all time in wins in franchise history (176).

• Fastest coach to 100 wins in franchise history (137 games).

• Central Division titles in each of his three seasons, a first for a Pistons coach.

• Winningest first-year coach in Pistons history. Detroit won a franchise-record 64 games in the 2005-06 season.

• First coach in NBA history to be named Eastern Conference coach of the month three consecutive times (November, December and January of 2005-06 season).

It was the first time since 1991 that the Pistons lost in the Conference finals on their own home floor, and the first time this current core group of Pistons had their season end with a loss at The Palace.

"The last 10 minutes of Game 6 was a microcosm of the last three years for me," Dumars said. "We're good enough, right there, we didn't get it done."

Because of Saunders' impressive regular season record -- he won 176 games, more than any coach in franchise history in his first three seasons -- Dumars knows he'll take some criticism for getting rid of yet another successful coach. When he fired Rick Carlisle in 2003, Carlisle had won 50 games in each of his two seasons in Detroit after inheriting a squad that had won just 32 games prior to his arrival.

Dumars recognizes the success of each of the coaches he has fired, adding that decisions to fire them always involve more than win totals.

One of those factors is continuity, something Dumars didn't always feel was evident with the team and their play last season under Saunders.

"I just want to make sure that, as a team and organization, we're all on the same page," Dumars said. "That wasn't always the case this year. I felt it was scattered too much at times."

Dumars added: "You make decisions like this and internally, you have your reasons for wanting to go in a different direction. I understand that when I come in here and sit down, that you can't go into all the details as to why you made the decision. It leaves it open."

Boston head coach Doc Rivers was among those disappointed to learn of Saunders being fired.

"It makes coaching not fun when you see that," Rivers told reporters Tuesday. "He's a terrific coach. I was surprised. A lot of people were not, I guess. But I was surprised about it. But it's our profession. And it's a tough profession."

Saunders, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday, showed few signs of concern that he would not be back next season. But a former player for Saunders who he has kept in close contact with, said the decision didn't come as a total shock.

"I knew he knew it," said Boston's Sam Cassell, who played for Saunders in Minnesota. "Flip is an amazing guy. One thing about Flip is he'll get a job real soon; maybe even today or tomorrow."

The next challenge for Detroit will be finding a replacement for Saunders.

While assistant coach Michael Curry remains the odds-on favorite to land the job, Dumars said Tuesday he will interview a handful of candidates that will include Curry and Detroit's lead assistant, Terry Porter, who is also a front-runner for the Phoenix Suns' coaching job. The Pistons also are expected to talk with former Dallas coach Avery Johnson, who, like Dumars, grew up in Louisiana.

Curry is the only one of the three without any head coaching experience.

That probably won't factor into Dumars' decision.

"When you are looking for positions like I am, you're looking for a coach, you're looking for characteristics of a person to lead that position," Dumars said. "I understand experience, but experience for the sake of experience, doesn't mean anything. You can have a 35, 40 percent winning percentage and 15 years of experience. Is that what you're looking for?"

It's certainly not what the Pistons want.

Their goals, regardless of who is the coach, remain the same: to compete for an NBA title.

And if Dumars doesn't believe that's happening, he'll do what he usually does every two or three years -- fire the head coach, and bring in someone new.